Under that scenario, a typical taxpayer who owns a home valued at $232,272 would pay $1,051.08 in city taxes — up from $1,011.24. So taxes would go up $40 despite a 6 percent homestead exemption the council approved this year. This is a time when the city should lower its tax rate, since property values have gone up. Higher property values mean the city can bring in as much or more revenue with a lower tax rate. And raising the tax rate robs homeowners of relief they should be getting from a homestead exemption. It’s no wonder so many readers of this page continue to question why Austin’s explosive growth — financed in part by public dollars — is not paying for itself. If the city’s business model for growth still is costing taxpayers a bundle every year, at what point does it bump up against the law of diminishing returns? That’s a question on which the council needs to drill down, especially since Ott’s budget proposal also increases fees for necessary city services, such as water, waste water and drainage.

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Clarity, restraint key to setting taxes In the past, we called on Austin-area taxing jurisdictions to hold joint meetings before setting tax rates, hoping that would help them understand the collective impact of their individual spending decisions on squeezed homeowners. From that exercise, we hoped those jurisdictions — the city of Austin, Travis County, Austin Independent School District, Austin Community College and Central Health — would set tax rates more in line with people’s ability to pay skyrocketing tax bills. Well, they did hold joint meetings — but they ignored the goal of what those meetings were supposed to accomplish. Those entities should take the additional step of conducting a study that compares the amount of taxes and mandated fees homeowners are paying to those five jurisdictions against annual incomes. Maybe that would open their eyes to Austin’s affordability crisis. There are several ways to gather and present that data. City watchdog Bill Oakey, who writes the “Austin Affordability” blog, has put together what he calls a “Taxpayer Impact Statement” that spells out much of that data for city taxpayers. That is a good starting point. And, if all five taxing jurisdictions put together such impact statements that also detail the total taxes and fees taxpayers are shelling out annually to those entities, it might generate the kind of sensitivity — and sensibility — needed in budget and tax deliberations. At the very least, such transparency would illuminate how spending decisions by elected and appointed officials affect taxpayers’ wallets from one year to the next. And that would enable voters to hold their elected officials more accountable. No longer would officials, such as those at Central Health, be able to claim that their decisions to set tax rates at a certain level amount to just a few dollars more on tax bills. No longer could officials with the city, county, or Austin Community College brag about lowering tax rates, even as they raise tax bills and fees. Those claims would collapse in reality’s harsh light. That brings us to the city of Austin’s budget deliberations. City Manager Marc Ott has proposed a 2015-16 budget that raises taxes on homeowners. That is not new. The city’s three previous budgets have done the same. As the American-Statesman’s Andra Lim reported, the city’s general fund would grow by 6 percent to $906.7 million. And the tax rate would go up, from 48.09 cents per $100 in taxable value to 48.14 cents. The additional spending would pay for 220 positions supported by the general fund, including 85 new police officers. Under that scenario, a typical taxpayer who owns a home valued at $232,272 would pay $1,051.08 in city taxes — up from $1,011.24. So taxes would go up $40 despite a 6 percent homestead exemption the council approved this year. This is a time when the city should lower its tax rate, since property values have gone up. Higher property values mean the city can bring in as much or more revenue with a lower tax rate. And raising the tax rate robs homeowners of relief they should be getting from a homestead exemption. It’s no wonder so many readers of this page continue to question why Austin’s explosive growth — financed in part by public dollars — is not paying for itself. If the city’s business model for growth still is costing taxpayers a bundle every year, at what point does it bump up against the law of diminishing returns? That’s a question on which the council needs to drill down, especially since Ott’s budget proposal also increases fees for necessary city services, such as water, waste water and drainage. There is a change afoot at the council, evident in a bold, sensible proposal by District 8 City Council Member Ellen Troxclair and District 6 City Council Member Don Zimmerman, which aims to trim Ott’s spending plan by $6 million annually and could help lower property taxes. Instead of awarding 3 percent across-the-board pay raises to the city’s 10,172 employees who aren’t sworn officers, firefighters or EMS employees, their proposal takes a tiered approach: Employees at the lower end of the pay scale would get 3 percent, while those at midlevel ranges would get a 2 to 2.5 percent salary bump, while higher-level employees would get 1.5 percent. The highest earners would get 0.08 percent. Whether adopted in its original form or in a revised version, it would send a message that this council is serious about controlling costs. And there is still time to revise the budget, since the council won’t approve a final version until September. As in past years, we again call on the council to use budget savings and surpluses to lower property taxes and pay for a larger homestead exemption to address the tax creep on Austin homeowners. It also makes sense that future budgets should be based on the so-called effective tax rate before raising it higher. It’s true the city is just one of five jurisdictions responsible for tax bills and fees. The other four also need to do their part in addressing Austin’s affordability crisis. Going forward, they must recognize that taxes, though set by individual jurisdictions, all come out of the same pocket. Therefore an increase, no matter how small, adds up to big money among homeowners.

An Austin city official reviews home plans last month. Under Austin’s proposed 2015-16 budget, property taxes will rise, with some of the additional money going to fund 27 new positions in development services such as building permitting. RALPH BARRERA / AMERICAN-STATESMAN